21/06/2013 20:00Turkey loses to Romania as Bulgaria takes over leadership in Pool A2013 CEV Volleyball European League - Women

Kecskemét, Hungary, June 21, 2013. Turkey’s winning series in preliminary Pool A of the 2013 CEV Volleyball European League – Women came to a close on Friday afternoon in Kecskemét as they lost in straight sets to Romania (15-21, 18-21, and 16-21) on the opening day of leg 2. With Bulgaria edging Hungary 3:1 (21-11, 23-25, 21-15, and 21-7) later in the day, Turkey did lose first place in the group while waiting for the remaining matches of the weekend. Romania imposed their pace right from the start of the match and did control it comfortably up to the end. “I really like the city and this arena. I am also proud of my players because today they did an excellent job” says Romania’s head coach Marian Constantin. “Tonight we will visit the local beer festival to celebrate this victory”. “Romania has got a strong and very well organized team” comments Turkey’s mentor Mehmet Bedestenlioglu. “My players are young and lack experience. However, I hope that tomorrow we will perform much better than we did today and claim our first win here in Hungary”.

In the other match of the day hosts Hungary could win one set in their fixture against last year’s silver medalists Bulgaria (1:3; 11-21, 25-23, 15-21, and 7-21). “I am not happy because my players did not show their best” comments Hungary’s head coach Laszlo Hollosy. “We need to show a totally different attitude as some players look very selfish. Our primary concern shall not be a stellar individual performance but to stick to the tactics we have agreed upon”. Hungary’s libero Dora Kötel, the best player for the home side, says: “We want to win all of our matches but today we could only take one set. After taking the second set we were not able to keep our mistakes to a minimum. However, I am already looking forward to an exciting match with Turkey on Saturday”.
“We are happy that we won this match that was so important to us. However, it was not a piece of cake” says Bulgaria’s head coach Marcello Abbondanza. “Hungary has a good team. I would like to praise the performance delivered by Desislava Nikolova and Elitsa Vasileva who tonight played their best”.